Heidi Ganahl will be the Colorado GOP’s nominee to face incumbent Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in November, following an easy election win Tuesday.

The Associated Press called Ganahl’s victory over Greg Lopez less than an hour after polls closed in Colorado. With about 388,000 votes — out of more than a million cast statewide — the Secretary of State’s office showed Ganahl ahead, with just over 53% of the vote.

Ganahl, a University of Colorado regent and the only Republican here still standing in statewide elected office, entered the race with significant advantages over opponent Lopez, including much more fundraising power, many more high-level endorsements and greater fluency on policy and legislative matters. She has a compelling story to tell, as a successful entrepreneur who years ago endured the loss of her first husband, and more recently survived a brain tumor.

Lopez, on the other hand, hasn’t held elected office in about 30 years, tried and failed to become governor in 2018, struggles mightily with fundraising and is prone to very controversial statements. He thinks, for example, that abortion should be banned in every instance — Ganahl thinks there should be exceptions — and he has proposed undoing Colorado’s “one person, one vote” system in order to transfer more electoral power to rural, more conservative areas.

Lopez addressed supporters around 8:20 p.m. He said he called Ganahl and congratulated her on the win.

“I told her that I would support her,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure Gov. Polis becomes a one-term governor.”

He added, “It’s a tough loss, but the battle’s not over.”

Ganahl’s campaign has never really taken off, perhaps in part due to the fact that she is trying to walk a difficult line by leaning into election denial hard enough to let the far right know she’s with them, but declining to go all in. Lopez has no problem going all in, and then some: he denies the 2020 election results and says he’d pardon Tina Peters, the indicted Mesa County clerk and recorder who is a leading figure in the national Big Lie movement.

Ganahl, a 55-year-old who lives in Lone Tree, held a watch party Tuesday night at a saloon in Sedalia. (It happens to be the same saloon hosting Peters’ own, separate watch party.) Lopez, a 58-year-old who lives in Elizabeth, gathered with supporters in Parker, the city he led as mayor for one turbulent term in the early 1990s.

Lopez bested Ganahl at the state GOP assembly in April, which earned him the top line on the primary ballot. Polling leading up to Tuesday indicated it would be a tight race.

Polling also indicates it won’t be an especially tight race in November, as voters continue to rate Polis favorably. He’s got other advantages, too, including the incumbency and personal wealth sufficient to guarantee he obliterates any challenger on the spending front.

It’s likely some would-be Republican votes will peel off in the general election to support Danielle Neuschwanger, the far-right candidate who tried for the GOP gubernatorial primary ballot, failed and announced she’d run as the American Constitution Party nominee.

This is a developing story and it will be updated as results come in.

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